We Do Disney Sign

Now that Christmas is over, I can finally share these We Do Disney signs that I created. I say signs, because I created one for me, one for my sister, and one for my parents. Yup, in this family we do Disney.

This sign is about 10" x 15". It's painted with red paint and the words are done in tan vinyl. This was the one I created for my parents.

I created two of this larger one (one for my sister's house and one for mine). It's a bit bigger at 12" x 24". I painted it in a simple grey and teal ombre. The vinyl words are white. I also added some light sanding to the edges of this one. I've never painted ombre before, and was really happy with how this turned out. I only used 2 colors of paint (the gray you see at the top and the teal you see at the very bottom). I just squirted both colors onto a plate and slowly mixed a little of the teal into the gray as I moved down the board. It ended up needing two coats of paint, so know when painting ombre you can do two coats. The colors of the top and bottom coats don't have to match up perfectly for you to get a great ombre effect.

Just a little bit about how I created these. I used my Silhouette Cameo and the Silhouette Studio to create my words. There are some really great "We Do Disney" signs out there, but I wanted ones that had words, movies, quotes that were especially meaningful to our family, so I listed out some of our favorite movies and quotes and created the file from there. Remember that your Cameo can cut any font that you have loaded on your computer. For this project I stuck with more whimsical fonts. I cut the entire file onto one large piece of vinyl. That way I only had to line everything up once.

One last note: I usually like to use my vinyl as a stencil that I peel off after painting. Because some of my fonts were so thin, I decided to paint my board and use the vinyl directly this time. Had I used it as a stencil, the edges of my letters would not have been nearly as straight, even, and pretty as the vinyl is.
If you have any questions about how I created these signs please don't hesitate to ask. Have a magical day!

Gift Card Box

Today I wanted to share how I created a rectangle gift card box with my We R Memory Keepers 123 Punch Board. I created a Christmas gift card box, but this will work for any occasion, just switch out the paper. Do bear with me as there are a lot of photos in this post, but I promise, once you make one it's really easy.

For a 3 1/2" x 2 1/4" x 1/2" gift box all you'll need is the We R Memory Keepers 123 Punch Board, some adhesive (I love Glue Dots® Ultra Thin and Repositionable for this task), and a 5 5/8" x 5 5/8" piece of patterned paper (I used Bella Blvd Illustrated Faith Christmas).

The standard directions for making a box with the punch board will give you a square box, so to make a rectangle we need to change up the directions just a bit.

Step 1: Line up your paper to the 2" mark, punch, and score along Box Score Line A and Box Score line B.

Step 2: Without rotating your paper move it to the 2 3/4" mark, punch, and score along Box Score Line A and Box Score line B.

Step 3: Rotate your paper 90 degrees counterclockwise. Line your first score line up with the Box Score Line A line, punch, and score your paper along Box Score Line B.

Step 4: Without rotating your paper line up your second score line with the Box Score Line A line, punch, and score along Box Score Line B.

Now you're going to rotate your paper 90 degrees counterclockwise and repeat steps 1-4.

 When you've completed steps 1-4 twice, you'll be all set to assemble your box. Just follow the directions on the punch board for assembly.

I like to use a Repositionable Glue Dot® to hold my gift card snugly in the box.

You have 2 options for closing up the box. If you want it to lie flat, you'll have to skip the corner slitter punch, and your top will have a bit of an envelope look to it. Just use adhesive to hold it shut. 

I chose to use the corner slitter punch on my longer sides, and ended up with a gabled box top instead. 

To make the box a little more festive, I used the 123 Punch Board to create a bow (this is the XS bow size).

I give out a lot of gift cards, so I love having the option of making a quick gift card box now, too. If you're looking for a few more ideas for gift card giving, check out my festive Gift Card Envelopes or for a unique twist these Gift Card Coin Envelopes. If you have any questions about the creation of this gift card box, don't hesitate to leave me a comment or email me!

I wrote this post while participating on the Glue Dots® Design Team.

Holiday Treat Containers

I have one last Christmas project to share on the SRM blog.

You can head on over to the SRM blog to check out all the details and see what surprise these have hiding inside.

Masculine Christmas Tags

I'm over on the SRM blog with some masculine Christmas tags.

Head on over to the SRM Blog to see all the details on how I created these.

Handmade Magnets

Hello! Christmas will soon be upon us, so I thought I'd share one of my favorite easy to make gifts: Handmade Magnets.

I've made a number of sets of these over the years and they are always a big hit. They're easy enough for kids to help make, easy to customize, and super useful. I mean, you can never have too many magnets.

These are made from 3/4" magnets. You can find an 18 pack of them for $1.99 at most big box stores.

I create and print out whatever words or pictures I want on white card stock. This year I used my Silhouette Cameo (and Silhouette Studio software) to do my designing, printing, and cutting, but in the past I've done my designing in Word and used a 3/4" circle punch to punch out the words.

Use some really strong clear glue (I like to use E6000 glue for this task) to attach a clear glass rock to the top of the magnet. This protects your design and has the added benefit of magnifying it a bit, too.

I like to package the up in groups of 3 in a little clear favor bag with a bit of matching ribbon. You can gift them just like this, or add them to a gift basket.

How are your handmade gifts coming along this year?

Christmas Bible Journaling

I'm over on the SRM blog today sharing a bit of Christmas Bible Journaling and a trick for adding nice handwriting to your Bible when you don't have nice handwriting.

Head on over to the SRM blog to check out all the details.

Reindeer Vinly Decor

I'm over on the SRM blog today sharing a little Christmas project I've created with SRM's metallic vinyl.

Head on over to SRM's blog to find out the details about how I created this reindeer vinyl decor.

Chalkboard Christmas Tree

Today I have a really simple but fun piece of Christmas decor to share with you; A chalkboard Christmas tree.

I found a fun unfinished wood tree kit. I didn't know what I was going to do with it, but I knew I wanted it. After having it for a few weeks, I decided that it would be lots of fun to paint it with chalkboard paint and leave notes for each other on it during the month of December.

I got some green Martha Stewart chalkboard paint off of Amazon. I used 3 coats of the paint on each board. Truthfully, it was fully covered after 2 coats, but since it is going to be used and not just looked at I added one extra coat of paint since I had more than enough. 

We're already having lots of fun leaving each other notes about what Christmas movies are on TV tonight, or what we want to do (like look at lights or have hot chocolate). I have a feeling this is going to fast become one of our favorite pieces of holiday decor.

Masculine Birthday Card

My grandpa's birthday is coming up next week, so I needed a masculine birthday card. Here's what I came up with.

I started with a bit of an oldie but a goodie for my paper choice: Pebbles Inc Birthday Wishes. I don't make a lot of cards, so I tend to go through my 12 x 12 papers a lot faster than I do my 6 x 6 paper pads, so I still have some of this fun paper in the smaller prints hanging around my scrap room.

It's super busy around my house right now, so I decided to reach for die cuts and stickers to decorate my card. The fun "it's your Day!" sticker from SRM's Fancy Birthday Sentiments was perfect for the center of one of the balloons. When I finished layering up the card, it felt a little plain, so I added some sticker stitches as well. I used both black and white sticker stitches to pull in the black and white from the patterned paper.

This masculine birthday card is already in the mail and on its way to my grandpa. I hope it brings him an extra smile on his birthday! Do you like to use stickers to save some time when making cards?

Halloween Mini Album

I know Halloween was last month, but I just finished up documenting our Halloween fun this year and I want to share my finished Halloween Mini Album.

I have photos of just a few of the pages from my mini album this year. I make one every year, because it's just so much fun. This year I used Doodlebug's Boos & Brews Collection. It's, of course, adorable and not too spooky.

I mixed and matched my pages in this album. I have horizontal pages that are 4" x 7" and vertical pages that are 5" x 6".

I used my We R Memory Keeper's Cinch to bind the album.  The binding runs the full length of the horizontal pages. The binding is centered on the vertical pages with about an inch of unbound edge above and below the binding.

If you do a lot of book, journal, or mini album binding, the Cinch is a must have tool. It's so easy to use!

I even threw in a little 4x5 page just for fun. I kind of like the "messy" look of this album with all of it's mismatched pages. 

Now that my Halloween mini album is done, I can move on to getting my December album prepared! What are you working on this week?

Embossed Thank You Card

I am over on the SRM Blog today sharing an embossed thank you card, that you don't need an embossing folder (or machine) to create!

Head on over to the SRM Blog to find out all the details on how I created this card.

Mason Jar Decorating

I'm over on the SRM blog today sharing how I decorated some mason jars (filled with homemade jam) to hand out to teachers and neighbors this Christmas.

Check out all the details on how I created these over at SRM's blog today.

Leaf Pile Layout

We're having some really beautiful weather this fall. We're taking full advantage of the warm temps and sunny skies to play outside...and what's a a beautiful autumn weekend without playing in some leaf piles? 

After creating a layout with Doodlebug's fun camera Silhouette cutting file as a large focal point, I thought it would be fun to try using it in a different way. For this layout I used it as a repeating pattern to make my background.

I used Doodlebug's Flea Market for the layout, because it really is just the perfect fall paper collection. I love that the colors are a bit brighter than traditional fall paper collections. 

I'm really  enjoying playing around with my Cameo a bit more to create layouts, and this leaf pile layout is just another fun way to use my Cameo.

Camera Layout

Every year I do a formal style photo shoot with my kids. While I take lots of photos all year long, I like having something a little more official to document how much they change every year. Today I have a camera layout with one of the photos from my oldest's photos.

Doodlebug recently came out with cutting files for Silhouette Cameo that coordinate with their latest paper collections. Wen I saw the cute camera that goes with their Flea Market collection I go the idea to use it for a layout. I thought it would be fun to use the photo in the focal area of the camera.

I originally thought I'd cut the photo into a circle and place it directly in the center of the camera lens, but I decided that it looked just a little too matchy matchy. I decided to go with a square photo because it ended up being a bit more dynamic on the layout.

 I really love the detail of the dial. There are so many bits and pieces that give it more depth. So fun! All of the paper used to build the layout (and the camera) are from Doodlebug's Flea Market collection. It's a really bright, fun fall collection that also just happened to be perfect for this camera layout.

I can't wait to scrap more of this kid's photos from his annual shoot. He's growing up so fast! How often do you take formal photos of your kids?

Working ahead: Jornaling Cards for 2017

I never seem to have enough journaling cards, so today I'm over on the SRM Blog sharing a great stash busting project. I'm working ahead and making journaling cards for 2017 using SRM's mini calendar stickers.

Head on over to the SRM blog to check out the full project!

Haircut Layout

My 8 year old has been asking to color his hair green. He's a really good kid, and it so fits his personality, so we decided to let him. Truth be told, he loves it and so do I. Being a scrapbooker, I had to snap some photos of the process and make a haircut layout from them.

My kiddos have dark hair, so we had to go blond before he could go green. We had a good laugh about him looking like he should join a 90's boy band with the blond hair.

I recently added some Crate Paper Cool Kid to my stash. It was the perfect collection for my fun photos. The colors are rich but a bit muted, perfect for older boy layouts. There's some green in the papers, but not a lot. Just enough to coordinate with my photos while still keeping the focus on that bright pop of green hair.

I chose some denim alphabet stickers from We R Memory Keepers Denim Blues collection for the title. Since the alphabets are fabric, they can be a bit messy, but they have the righ tlook for this layout.

His hair will only be green for about 6 more weeks, but this fun haircut layout will help keep the memory forever. Some day he'll have the pictures to prove to his grandkids that he had green hare once! What's the craziest thing you've let one of your kids do?